Bad Strategery in Iraq

Sometimes the media covers events that don't really need to be covered. Or at least they don't cover them in the WAY they should be covered. Take today's press conference with Gen. Maj. William Caldwell about Al-Qaeda in Iraq's latest leader:

The U.S. military on Thursday identified Abu Ayyub Al-Masri, an Egyptian operative with connections to an Usama bin Laden lieutenant, as the probable new leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Maj. Gen. William Caldwell showed a photo of Al-Masri at a Baghdad press conference, saying he is apparently the same person that Al Qaeda in Iraq identified in a Web posting last week as its new leader — Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, a nom de guerre.

Caldwell said Al-Masri's ability to lead the organization remained unclear, but added that he professed the "same tactics of attacking and killing civilians" as his predecessor Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

That's right, everyone, the head of the terrorist organization in Iraq is FOR using terror tactics. Surprisingly, the peace candidate for Al-Qaeda in Iraq never gained any traction. He was a small-donor, clean-money choice too, an insurgent candidate for the insurgents, if you will. Maybe if the primary season wasn't so front-loaded he would have had a shot.

I also feel that the media hasn't learned the lesson of believing the hype on Zarqawi, and are now transferring that right over to hype this next titular head, Abu Ayyub Al-Masri. Certainly Al-Masri has an interest in being seen as larger than life and the main force against the infidels. But we all know that foreign jihadis really aren't the biggest source of instability in Iraq at all. The problem are the sectarian forces who have been at each other's throats for close to the last two years. Foreign fighters aren't raping Iraqi women; members of the armed militia are. 1,000 Iraqi civilians are dying each month in Baghdad at the hands of not just foreign fighters, but roving bands of Shiites and Sunnis, including members of the Interior Ministry. To focus on one terrorist does a disservice to those of us trying to understand this war. It's done strictly for a stateside audience, just like the insistent focus on Zarqawi. Chopping the head off the insurgency doesn't work if the head is not already attached to the body (OK, that metaphor didn't totally work, but you get my point).

The current crackdown in Baghdad may yield some results in the short-term, especially if it is managed fully by the Iraqi Prime Minister and not US interests. But the only long term strategy is political, not search-and-destroy. And holding a big press conference to announce the new leader of a satellite organization that, IMO, is not the problem in Iraq does nothing for that long-term strategy.